Social Media: Power to the people
by Steve White
As fellow marketers it can’t have escaped your attention that the marketing landscape in which we work is changing at an amazing rate. The way we communicate with our customers isn’t the same as it once was and it is certainly going to continue changing over the forthcoming years.
Traditionally, we have spoken to our customers via direct mail, email, tv, radio and the telephone. However, due to the boom of social media this one-way communication flow is changing into a more dynamic two-way conversation.
In my view, the major change that has occurred is social media is giving our customers a voice; it’s giving our customer’s power. So whereas the customer was only able to affect our business through their purchasing behaviour they can now have the power to influence our future by what they say about our brand, product and service offering. However, although these are undoubtedly exciting times they are times that should be treated with caution as we have very little control as to what our customers say about us and we have even less control over who they speak to.
United breaks guitars
United Airlines discovered last year just how dangerous social media can be when a disgruntled customer decided to write a song about his experiences with the airline.
In the spring of 2008, US soft rock band, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour. However, whilst the band were at Chicago airport waiting for their connecting flight to Omaha the band’s lead vocalist Dave Carrol witnessed his Taylor guitar being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers. The damage was severe and over the course of the next 9 months Dave complained and spoke to several members of senior management seeking compensation. Although they didn’t deny the incident happened they failed to accept responsibility.
When Dave’s patience finally run out he informed United Airlines that he was going to write and produce three songs about his ‘brand’ experiences and make videos for each of them. No-one could have predicted what was to happen next.
After 10 days Dave’s first song “United Breaks Guitars” had received an amazing 4,000,000 hits via youtube.com. The buzz that was being created by this video was soon picked up the traditional American media. It was at this point United Airlines decided to offer Dave $700 as compensation, but it was too little too late. Dave rejected the offer.
The video cost Dave $90 to produce but it cost United Airlines so much more. United Airline’s stock price fell by 10%, a monumental $180m.
What a booby!
It’s not just our trans-Atlantic cousins who have suffered from a disgruntled customer using social media to vent their frustration at a brand or product.
Our very own Marks and Spencer were caught up in a social media frenzy only last year when Marks and Spencer took the decision to charge extra for larger bras.
Marks and Spencer’s were then encountered with a consumer led Facebook protest against the “tit-tax”. The page was set up by a writer from Brighton called Beckie Williams who was fed up of paying extra for her 30g bras. I doubt Beckie quite envisaged the support she would receive on the back of her “Busts 4 Justice” campaign but she generated over 14,000 Facebook supporters.
Marks and Spencer responded to the media storm by backing down and placed full page adverts in the press admitting that they were wrong and informing customers that they were withdrawing the “tit-tax”. Under the headline “We’ve boobed” the adverts said: “We were wrong, so as of Saturday 9th May the storm in a D cup is over.” Marks and Spencer also slashed prices on all bras by 25% for a two week period. Although I’m sure the incident caused Marks and Spencer great embarrassment I personally feel that they dealt with the situation in a highly professional and efficient manner and probably came out of the incident with a degree of credit.
Zappos
Don’t panic, it’s not all doom and gloom there are also some great examples of businesses benefiting enormously from customers saying positive things about their brands, services and products via social media.
For example, US online shoe retailer Zappos has gained great exposure for a wonderful piece of customer service due to the recipient talking about the incident on their blog.
Serial blogger Zaz Lamar had bought some shoes for her ill mother. However, due to her deteriorating health the shoes didn’t fit, so she informed Zappos that she would be returning them. However, a week later the shoes hadn’t been returned and Zaz received an email from Zappos asking for an update. Zaz apologised and informed Zappos that the shoes had been forgotten about as her mother had passed away and she would return them as soon as possible.
I’ll leave it to Zaz to finish the story.
“They emailed back that they had arranged with UPS to pick up the shoes, so I wouldn’t have to take the time to do it myself. I was so touched. That’s going against corporate policy.
Yesterday, when I came home from town, a florist delivery man was just leaving. It was a beautiful arrangement in a basket with white lilies and roses and carnations. Big and lush and fragrant. I opened the card, and it was from Zappos. I burst into tears. I’m a sucker for kindness, and if that isn’t one of the nicest things I’ve ever had happen to me, I don’t know what is. So…”
Zaz published her experiences via her blog and the story gathered pace and again the story was picked up on by a whole range of offline and online publications.
Power to the people
As you can see with these examples the customer is becoming more powerful than ever! They now have the scope to damage brands and businesses through negativity but at the same time they have the power to be powerful brand advocates by speaking positively about brands, products and services.
Let’s look at the positive impact social media can have on a brand in a little more detail. Could customer retention really be an acquisition tool?
Personally, I think there is no doubt. I think we’ve already established that the customer certainly has the tools at their disposal to talk about our brand, product and service to a mass audience. However, it’s all very well that our brand is being talked about but are people listening? Well according to Socialnomics is an overwhelming “yes”. They report that 78% of consumers “trust” the recommendations of other consumers whereas only 14% trust advertisements.
Ok, so our brand advocates have the tools at their disposal and they have an audience who will believe what they say. However, are our brand advocates talking to the right people? Well, they’re talking to their family members, their friends and their social media followers. If you think about your own circle of friends, I’m sure they are people with similar interests, likes and dislikes to you. So the likelihood of them sharing the views of our brand advocates is quite high, which arguably gives them a better chance of becoming good customers themselves.
These are undoubtedly exciting times for marketers like you and I. The marketing landscape is changing and it will continue to change and evolve. However, it’s about how we react to these changes that will determine whether we prosper or decline.
Tags: Beckie Williams, Busts 4 Justice, Dave Carrol, Facebook Advertising Agency, Internet Agency, Manchester Advertising Agency, Manchester Social Media Agency, Manchester Viral Agency, Marketing Agency, Marks and Spencer, New Media Agency, Online Marketing, Petition Marketing, PPC Advertising Agency, PPC Agency, SEO Company, Social Marketing Agency, Social Media, Social Media Agency, Twitter Marketing Agency, United Airlines, United Breaks Guitars, Zappos, Zaz Lamar
